One-piece container carrier

ABSTRACT

A one-piece container carrier is integrally formed from a flattened tube and comprises an endless band having a ring portion adapted to engage a complementary container and a bail portion which is situated above and transversely arranged relative to the ring portion engaging a complementary container.

United States Patent Owen et al.

[ Sept. 5, 1972 [54] ONE-PIECE CONTAINER CARRIER I [72] lnventorszRonald C. Owen, Hardwood Heights; Ernest R. Cunningham,

WWW Libertyville,both oflll. w

[73] Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc., Chicago,

Ill.

[22] Filed: July 13, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 54,418

[52] US. Cl. ..2l5/l00 A, 220/85 H, 220/94 R,

- 294/312, 294/872 [51] Int. Cl. ..B65d 2/12, B160 1/00 [58] Field of Search.... ..294/31.2, 87.2; 224/45 R, 45"

AA, 224/45 BA, 45 P; 220/85 H, 94 R; 215/ 100' i A; 206/65 C, 65 E; 229/52 AL [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,594,891 7/1971 Cunningham etal...'-..294/31 ,2

3,137,423 6/ l 964 'Tupper ..224/45 R 1,355,354 10/ 1920 Pearson ..220/94 R I 3,186,544 6/1965 Curry et al. ..206/65 E Primary Examiner-George E. Lowrance Assistant Examiner 4tephen Marcus AttarneyRobert W. Beart, Michael Kovac and Jack R. Halvorsen ,[57] ABSTRACT A one-piece container carrier is integrally formed from a flattened tube and comprises an endless band having a ring portion adapted to engage a. complementary container and a bail portion'which is situated above and transversely arranged relative to the ring portion engaging a complementary container.

2 Claims, 3Drawing Figures Hidding ..215/10o A' Patented Sept. 5, 1972 INVENTORS Ronald 0 Owen Ernqsf R. Cu n/ngham rim 411' ONE-PIECE CONTAINER CARRIER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Carriers or devices for holding or retaining a bottle are known generally by US. patents to Clancy No. 1,596,076, Updegraff No. 3,463,536, and Jennings No. 3,000,527. Both Jennings and Updegraff are concemed with a thermoplastic container carrier adapted to be retained beneath the lip of a bottle or the like. The carriers represented by these patents also include integral bail portions which are normally positioned in the same plane as an endless band portion. Another form of container carrier, represented by Clancy, utilizes a bail portion which has interconnecting ends to form a generally U-shaped handle for the container. The prior art devices necessitate manual positioning of the bail of the container to be held and, in forms typified by Clancy, require an additional attaching step prior to positioning the bail. The prior art also utilizes designs requiring manufacturing techniques which are relatively expensive for mass production.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide an integral container carrier with a pre-positioned bail element.

It is another object of the invention to provide a container carrier which aggressively grips and retains a single container, but requires a minimum of preassembly relative thereto. It is still another object of the invention to provide a container carrier which may be readily and efficiently produced from a tube of thermoplastic material.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention are obtained through a container carrier formed from a flattened tube which consists of an endless band including a bail portion transversely disposed to an integral ring portion.

The carrier of this invention is formed by flattening a tube of thermoplastic material and stamping a series of carriers in the form of endless bands from the tube material. The endless band will be stamped in such a manner as to form a separated portion which takes the form of a ring-like configuration. The ring-like portion is thereafter fitted over a complementary container in such a manner as to aggressively grip and retain the container and yet provide a readily accessible predisposed bail portion for holding or transporting the container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective view of the container carrier holding a complementary bottle;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the carrier in a relaxed position showing, in dotted lines, the tube from which it is produced; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a tube showing a series of container carriers to be punched from the tube.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The carrier generally assumes the configuration of an endless band which includes a bail portion 14 and a ring portion 16. The ring portion 16 is integrally formed with the bail portion 14 and is transversely disposed to the bail portion.

FIG. 1 shows a package including the container carrier 10 holding a bottle 12, such as an I.V. bottle, in an upright position. The ring portion 16 of the carrier extends around and aggressively grips the container in a complementary groove 24 on the container. In this configuration, the bail portion 14 of the endless band is prepositioned above the container and is adapted to carry or position the container. I

The relaxed configuration of the carrier is shown in FIG. 2 as an endless band which is a portion of tube 26, shown in dotted lines. The bail portion 14 is shown to extend in a plane generally transverse to the longitudinal axis of the tube 26, while the ring portion 16 extends generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tube. The ring portion 16 and the bail portion 14 retain their transverse positioning relative to one another, when in actual use as shown in FIG. 1. Thus, the bail portion 14 of the carrier is prepositioned with respect to the ring portion 16in order to be ready for use after installation of the ring portion 14 about the container without a secondary operation.

The utilization of a tube of thermoplastic material for the manufacture of container carriers, is an efficient manner of producing such carriers as shown generally, in FIG. 3. When a tube of thermoplastic material is flattened, there will be provided upper and lower superpositioned layers. This will permit the stamping of onehalf of the ring and bail portions l6, 14 respectively in each of the upper and lower layers. Economic utilization of the tube may further be enhanced by alternating the carriers to be stamped from the tube, as shown by the dotted lines in FIG. 3.

The bail portion 14 of the endless band is connected integrally by means of a connecting bifurcated portion 18 to the outer periphery of the ring portion 16, as shown in FIG. 2. The connecting portions 18 are shown to connect the bail portion 14 to the ring portion 16 at diametrically opposed segments of'the ring portion 16. The diametrically opposed connections thus insure stability in handling the package when the container and carrier are assembled.

In operation, each individual container carrier is ap plied to a complementary container, such as an I.V. bottle 12, by slightly stretching the ring portion 16 to be received in the complementary groove 24. Thus the outer or inner surface of the ring portion 16 of the endless band is positioned against the periphery of the complementary container and the ring portion 16 subsequently aggressively grips the container in such a manner as to securely retain the container in carrying or positioning the package. After the ring portion 16 is positioned within the complementary groove 24, the bail portion 14 automatically assumes a position overlying the container and is immediately available for use without the necessity of utilizing a secondary step to position the bail.

The use of a flattened tube to produce a series of ing said certain thickness in a direction radially of said cylinder, the radial width of said band being substantially greater than said certain thickness and the inner peripheral measurement of said band being less than the peripheral measurement of the container intended to be associated therewith whereby said band assumes a frustoconical shape when said band is stretched and applied to said container.

2. A carrier as defined in claim 1, and the ends of said bail integrally connected to said band being bifurcated. 

1. A one-piece container carrier of a resilient deformable plastic material having a certain thickness, said carrier comprising an annular band and an integral bail member which in the relaxed state lie on and extend circumferentially continuously about the surface of an imaginary cylinder with said bail aligned substantially circumferentially of said cylinder and the ends of said bail being integrally connected to the outer marginal edges of said band with the axIs of said band being disposed substantially perpendicular to the axis of said cylinder, said annular band and said bail member having said certain thickness in a direction radially of said cylinder, the radial width of said band being substantially greater than said certain thickness and the inner peripheral measurement of said band being less than the peripheral measurement of the container intended to be associated therewith whereby said band assumes a frustoconical shape when said band is stretched and applied to said container.
 2. A carrier as defined in claim 1, and the ends of said bail integrally connected to said band being bifurcated. 